Governor Wolfe Launches New Manufacturing PA Initiative

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Tom Wolf announced the launch of Manufacturing PA, a new initiative to support manufacturing and link job training to career pathways to ensure that training leads not simply to any job, but to careers that provide higher pay and opportunities for advancement with Pennsylvania manufacturers in today’s global economy.

“These programs have been developed to respond to the needs that the manufacturing community has been expressing for years by marrying our state’s job training programs with real careers in the manufacturing industry,” said Governor Wolf. “These programs benefit both the workforce and employers by creating customized training that is tailored to specific needs, and produces highly skilled employees while giving them access to a family sustaining wage and opportunities for advancement.”

Manufacturing PA partners the commonwealth’s research universities and Industrial Resource Centers to accelerate manufacturing technology advancement and adoption, foster manufacturing innovation and commercialization, and build a 21st century workforce.

Manufacturing PA initiative is made up of three new programs, each of which will provide support for Pennsylvania’s manufacturing community in different ways:

• The Pennsylvania Manufacturing Training-to-Career Grant program will help companies identify and train a skilled workforce while creating a workplace culture that enables the workforce to advance and the company to grow. Grants will be provided to Pennsylvania manufacturers who partner with technical and trade schools, Pennsylvania’s community colleges, and those non-profit organizations that demonstrate both experience and expertise in the development and deployment of workforce development programs.
• The Pennsylvania Manufacturing Innovation Program will leverage the internationally acclaimed science and engineering talent and discovery capacity of Pennsylvania’s institutions of higher education to help ensure that the commonwealth remains an international leader in manufacturing. This will include a Manufacturing Fellows program, designed to support designated undergraduate and graduate student Fellows in both long- and short-term engagements with industry.
• Pennsylvania’s Industrial Resource Centers will expand their outreach to include small and medium-sized businesses, and will continue to provide technical, strategic, and market-based assistance to Pennsylvania’s manufacturing sector. The programs will take advantage of the expertise of the Department of Community and Economic Development’s strategic partners, including the National Institutes of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership funded Industrial Resource Centers, Pennsylvania’s colleges, universities, technical schools, and non-profit organizations.

MEDIA CONTACTS: 
J.J. Abbott, Governor’s Office, 717.783.1116